Shattered, Here I Thrive
by Kokiko
Summary: Bought and seemingly soulless, this girl tests everything that Kaito is as he attempts to bring her to life, and to him. / KaitoxLuka twisted yet again by my hand.
1. Chapter 1

**Ah, the beginning of a new fancy. This isn't PV based, takes place in England 1815ish, and I just happen to fancy the idea greatly. Heads up now: as much as I love this story, it's on the bottom of my priority list, although it should bump up soon and resume the correct number of words per chapter (yeah, this one is on the slim side). I've just been really in the mood for something dark, broken, and potentially smutty. Yes, I don't know where the rating will go.**

**I apologize in advance for where I ended this; I just _had _to do it.**

**Also, the two italicized lines symbolize a memory start it just didn't feel appropriate to put the whole story from here out in italics. **

**The post may be slow, but I do love reviews. ;D**

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Kaito sat on the edge of the grand bed, his face cradled in his hands. He couldn't bear to turn around; what had he just done?

No, he didn't dare turn around and see the answer for himself, although he knew what it would be: her still body, her silent tears. She would be as he had left her: broken; used; ravaged. He had finally done it, caved into his primal desires, and how sweet it was. How significant it had been!

His hands pulled back through his blue locks. He started to turn his head to look back at her, but stopped and returned his face to his palms. If he had known that it would come down to this—the crumbs of a false and unrequited romance sprawled across dirty sheets—would he have prevented it?

_Would he have ever allowed her to enter his life?_

_From the very beginning?_

"Luki, I still don't see why we have to be here," Kaito said in the same incredulous tone that came whenever he talked to his pink-haired friend.

Said friend looked over his shoulder with a mischievous smirk. "It's your fault, really. Always sticking to your strict ethical beliefs." He turned his gaze back to in front of him and continued to lead the walk down the path to Viscount Gackpoid's house. "He just happens to be housing an interesting exhibit right now," he started, clearly getting a kick of what Kaito did not understand, "And I happen to have a fancy for human reactions."

Kaito resisted rolling his eyes, if only because that would make sense for the outrageous things often said by his peer. Taking in his surroundings, he began to notice a strange lack of attendance to the Viscount's home. If there was truly such a spectacle being housed there, then where were the attendees. He looked to the back of his friend's head, but refrained from asking seeing as approaching the front entrance.

Luki walked up to the door, knocked once, and turned, his expression assuring that one knock was all it took. The door opened to a butler—silver hair tied back and intimidating red eyes framed by glasses—that simply raised an eyebrow to their presence on the door step. "Lord Gackpoid is busy in his study," he said, offering less than a warm welcom.

The foul-mouthed, gutter-brain of the group merely presented his half smirk, half grin before he said, "I have an invitation to the Esclave Exhibit, if you would." Then he presented a plain card from his pocket, an unknown seal imprinted upon it. The man took the card without question and began to wordlessly lead them into the wealthy house. Kaito followed his friend in, but his mind begged to ask just what they were going to see. He could only stare wide-eyed at Luki's back, praying for an answer as to why he used the word "esclave," but returned to his normal solemn expression when he gave up waiting for prayer to be heard.

God, let it be a codename. Just a play of words by uneducated men who didn't know what they were saying.

God, answer this one request.

Through the house, just before the servant's quarters began, they paused before starting again through a fine wood door. They began to descend down stairs into what Kaito assumed was a cellar apart from the main one. As he passed the door, he saw the other half of it was actually made of some kind of heavy metal. His blood began to chill as did the temperature. The decending path was lit by wall candles just enough to see where one was going, but he almost didn't want to be able to. This exhibit, shouldn't it have been held in the ball room or even the front parlor? Instead, they were being led into a cellar.

_Esclave._

Kaito briefly shut his eyes to cleanse his mind of that word. Perhaps ignorance really was a blessing. It was blessing that he hoped they had and he was deprived of. Lord, if he was the truly ignorant one then let him be blessed forever. His hand twitched to loosen the cravat around his neck, but remained at his side. His gloves felt excruciatingly tight as well. They were nearing the bottom of the steps; he could feel it.

"I hope you understand," their escort started, using this opportunity to speak, "That what you see does not leave here. This is a gentleman's exposition. Breech our agreement, and consequences will be dealt." He stopped walking, pausing in his outline of the guidelines. A door creaked loudly signaling it had been opened as a stench of mold and sweat quickly followed it. Kaito saw Luki glance back at him with excited, sky-like eyes, just waiting to gauge his reaction. "This, gentlemen, is the Esclave Exhibit. Prices are negotiable."


	2. Chapter 2

His widened blue eyes took in what was before him. In the middle of the cellar was a row of people, all chained together. He didn't hear the clatter of metal, simply from the lack of movement, but he saw the candle light glimmer against their wrist bonds. Around the rest of room, here and there, cages could be seen. Kaito's throat tightened.

"Luki," he nearly whispered, "Just what is this?"

The pink haired fool- No, monster rather -smirked. He turned away from his friend to look back over the exhibit. "It's a slave market. Can't you tell? Well, I suppose it would be politically correct to call them servants. That's it says on any legal documents, after all."

The butler coughed from next to the door, signaling him to stop talking about such matters.

Luki took the sign. "Right then! Might as well walk around, eh?" he said with an all too cheery voice. He began to walk down the first aisle, nonchalantly glancing at the faces he passed. Some were staring, most were not.

Kaito felt sick; he needed to get out, if only to spare himself from the retched smell. He spun around to be met with warning gaze from the butler. His ever watching red eyes told him that he needed to stay put until his vulgar companion was finished. Kaito forced himself to swallow and turned back to the... "exhibit." That these people were trapped here was horrible and inhuman in every way.

"Kaito," his friend called from the back, "You really must keep up."

His feet refused to move, but he knew he had to. Luki wouldn't finish and allow them to leave otherwise. His left hand loosened the increasingly tight cravat around his neck. His lips parted, pulling apart from a sudden case of dryness, "How many are there?" His question was so quiet, he didn't think that the butler could hear him.

"Twenty-six," came the cold reply. "If you do not find one to your liking, different ones can always be rearranged."

A second difficult swallow, another strangled inhale. "There is more like them?"

"Where there is demand, there is always supply."

The air was becoming thinner and thinner. He needed to get this over with; to return to the surface world, the clean world. Slowly, Kaito began to move to where Luki was in the back of cellar. With each step, he took notice of the person he passed. Their appearances followed a simple standard: tattered clothes, filthy bodies, and a tag pinned to their shirt with an id number on it. Almost all of them were women.

Those that were simply chained up didn't move much. They didn't have any hope in their eyes. They just watched him as he passed, following his every movement. Those that were in cages were different. He could tell from the way one of the girls, a blonde who had shot hair from a sloppy cut, looked at him defiantly, her arms crossed and head held high. She gave the impression that she thought of him as aristocratic scum. Perhaps, now he was. He pulled his gaze away from her honest eyes, praying that she would still have the same spirit when she was no longer new to this _exhibit_.

When he finally reached his friend, Kaito found him kneeling next to a green haired girl. Luki's gloved hands were cradling her face and holding it up so she would look at him. His lips moved, making near silent whispers to her that he couldn't understand. Her number read "s004."

"Luki," Kaito addressed, standing above him. "What has been done to these people?"

There a pause. He gently removed his hands from the girl's face, her eyes following him. "That's not a very safe subject, Kaito." He kept his focus on the green-haired girl, gave a weak smile, and continued: "I can't imagine what they haven't gone through."

Kaito blinked hard, trying not to picture anything in great detail. He went back to viewing the exhibit, attempting to imagine it all away, and that was when he saw her: perfect, like a ceramic doll and just as fragile. She was spereated from everything else, leaning into the corner against the cold brick wall, wearing a fine dress that seemed to be from three seasons ago. "Who is that girl?" he asked, hoping either the butler or the pink-haired rake would hear him.

"She is finest one in here. She won't run, scream, or even talk, no matter what happens," Luki explained with a melancholic tone. He wouldn't look at her; he just stood still, his back to Kaito.

"Are you interested, My Lord?" the butler asked as he walked forward from his place beside the door, his steps resounding through the quiet cellar. "There is no better here. Each of her previous owners would only speak praises of her work."

Kaito turned to the man. "Previous? Then why is she here?"

The man coughed into his white gloves to clear his throat, not expecting such a question. "It seems that..." He trailed off, searching for the right words to use, "silent obedience is less and less preferred."

The blue-haired aristrocrat looked back to the girl. The clean tag pinned to her dress read "Luka." She had a name unlike the others. He studied her appearance further, curious to learn about the girl who still had a piece of her past life, her name. She had long, pink hair that drapped over her shoulder and chest in elegant ribbons. Her blue eyes were a color remeniscint of the sky, as distant as they were. And her every feature was perfect. Physically, he could see no fault with her. She was still incomplete, though. Kaito could tell from how distant her eys were, as if her soul was disconnected from her body. He wanted to save her; to heal her. He _needed_ to. She needed him.

"Hey, time to go," Luki said, slowly starting to make his way to the door.

Kaito hardly noticed his lips part and the words leave his mouth.

"How much?"

Luki spun around and shot a disbelieving look to him. "What did you say?" he asked in an incredulous tone. What was he saying? Kaito, the morally correct one, looking to buy a human?

Kaito turned and faced his surprised company. "You heard me. How much is she?"

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**So. Second chapter is done. I wrote it on a feeling so shove it. ;D**

**I have a question for you lot: what do you think of Kaito having a sister complex? I've been thinking of adding it for some character/thought depth, but I wouldn't want to make this story any mroe twisted than it already is.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading this. I hope everyone reviews~ x3**


	3. Chapter 3

Kaito sat in the in his study, a glass of brandy comfortably in his hand. He had just gotten back from the _exhibit_ and knew that the best company at a time like this was one that wash everything away. He idly swirled the dark liquid, looking past it into the cold, unlit hearth. Luki had refused to ride back to his estate with him, saying that he would bother the Count for a horse, so Kaito had gone back alone with Luka, the girl he purchased.

His lips instantly bent into a frown upon remembering. He had bought a human life as if it was common goods; he was now no better than the scum that captured and sold those women. He took no time in taking a large drink from his glass, the harsh substance burning as it went down. It felt as if it could burn away the words that he was threatening to say; a confession of what he had done.

God, what he had done. It had cost a small fortune to purchase the girl, enough to commission a new ship to be made for his business, but it was done. Perhaps he could think of it as saving her from such conditions? Yes, he had liberated her from being a slave and he could be proud of that. His mind wandered back to when they had first arrived at his own estate. She listened well enough, had gotten out of the carriage as she was told, but would not follow him inside. She had just stood there staring emotionlessly at his home. He had quickly appointed one of the girls working for him, Gumi, as her handmaid who then led her inside and to one of the guest rooms.

She would be unable to live on her own, that much he knew. Even if she could, there was the chance that someone from her past might recognize her and capture her again. No matter how he looked at it, the girl named Luka was still a prisoner. All he could do was take care of her as if she wasn't and hope that one day she would open up. Isn't that why he made the rash decision to buy her, though? To repair the broken girl?

He took another drink from his glass, finishing it. What was he thinking? Was he trying to be some sort of white knight? It was impossible. And then there was Kaiko, his younger sister. Since their parents were no longer around and he was made the Marquess Ravencliff, it was up to him to make sure that she had a good debut in the upcoming season. What would she think about the girl? Heck, even if he said she was just a guest that would only go so far. Anyone could see there was something wrong about her; she came from a world different from their own.

His eyes were still focused on the empty fireplace, as if he were waiting for something to appear there. What was to happen now? The weight of what he had done comfortably rested itself upon his shoulders and being. The thick glass fell from his hand and onto the carpeted floor unbroken as he lost the strength-or was it will?-to hold it any longer. Perhaps what he needed to do was go see Luka himself.

Kaito ran a hand over his forehead before standing up and leaving the quiet study. Outside the door he found Kiyoteru Hiyama, his butler. He was calm sort of man, one pleasant enough to talk to, but too soft in his opinion. "Hiyama," the Marquess started, "Where is Lady Luka presently?"

He could see the curiosity behind the man's glasses as he hesitated before answering, "The viewing parlor, My Lord."

The Marquess nodded once before heading out into the hall, down the stairs, and down another hall to the parlor that had an overlooking view of the garden. He stopped in front of the open door, looking in to the girl he had bought sitting on the beige sofa. Her absent eyes were focused on an empty candy dish in the center of the table before her. He noticed that she was no longer wearing the dirtied dress from earlier, but one of Kaiko's. It was too small everywhere and seemed to just barely go over her, especially on her bosom. He looked back up to her face, taking note to buy her clothes later.

"My Lady," he said, alerting her of his presence. She gave no reaction as he walked into the room and took a seat in one of the two armchairs across from her. Kaito placed his temple to his fingertips, as if resting his head, while looking at her. What was he to do now? He thought he would know when he saw her, but there was no such thing; nothing came to mind even when he was faced with the unresponsive girl. She reminded him of a living doll.

"Is there anything you would like during your stay here?" he asked, carefully observing her for any sort of reaction.

There was none.

"I can't help but notice that you will need your own clothes," he started, using whatever he could to try and make conversation, "Would you mind going out with me later?"

Still no reaction.

He sighed to himself and ran his hand behind his ear before settling it on his lap. "Your name is Luka, right?" It had occurred to him that that might not even be her original name. It could have very well been some pet-title that the scum in her past had given her and he didn't want to refer to her by such a name.

He watched as she lifted her gaze from the candy dish, the rest of her still unmoving, to look at him with those blank eyes; they were such a warming blue. He only wished he could see those same eyes hold some sort of emotion one day. She turned her head away from him, looking out into the garden, her dirty hair falling over her shoulder. Well, at least she had made some sort of reaction.

He sighed to himself again before standing up, a tired feeling washing over him already. The sun was just beginning to set and he had done most of his work earlier, so he supposed he could retire early for the day. He would try talking with her again tomorrow, when he placed the order for her clothes and saw that she was properly taken care of. For now, Kaito wanted to rest and forget about the day. Forget about twisted exhibit he had seen. Forget about the darker sider to his close friend.

Forget about the broken life he had purchased.


End file.
